The Air Fryer topic

[palo]

3 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Would this include the APO?

 

The APO is not considered an "Air Fryer" - it may struggle to do the job, but is under-rated for that specific task.

Interestingly ATK put the APO in its "Not Recommended" category for smart ovens Their general comment was:

Quote:

 The bad news? We just didn’t love this oven

p

[weinoo]

5 hours ago, palo said:

Interestingly ATK put the APO in its "Not Recommended" category for smart ovens Their general comment was:

Quote:

 The bad news? We just didn’t love this oven

 

Reading between the lines?

 

They didn't pay us enough to rate their oven highly.

[gfweb]

41 minutes ago, weinoo said:

 

Reading between the lines?

 

They didn't pay us enough to rate their oven highly.

Yup.

Either that or they just don't get it.

ATK is quirky

[Kerry Beal]

So if you truly want to up your game - you need a Turbo Chef! The ultimate air fryer. 

[palo]

Without quoting the whole review, they tended to use the "steam and then broil" cooking method for most items - 8 hours for ribs/3 hours plus extra broiling time for 4 lb. chicken.

 

Quote:

It was confusing to cook in. Even programmed recipes were overcomplicated.

 

The oven itself is very large and heavy and spews steam. Controls, both on the oven and app, are oversimplified, esoteric, and hard to read. 

 

The top smart oven was the June Smart Oven followed by the Tovala Smart Oven.

Yes the Apo is quirky, but there was little mention of its strengths.

 

p

 

[Anna N]

12 hours ago, mgaretz said:

The Philips was retired long ago as I could never get it to stop smoking once I made the mistake of air frying some pork belly. 

Edited 12 hours ago by mgaretz (log)

The Phillips was my first air fryer and I had no issues with it except that I was not actually using it. It has found a new home with my number 2 son and is still going strong. I am equally happy with the Cosori. 

[ElsieD]

20 hours ago, palo said:

Instant Vortex Plus with ClearCook:

 

https://www.amazon.ca/Instant-ClearCookTM-OdorEraseTM-Dehydrate-Stainless/dp/B096N28SZP/ref=sr_1_14?crid=1FOPYVE5UKVXJ&keywords=instant+vortex+air+fryer&qid=1654648197&s=kitchen&sprefix=Instant+Vortex%2Ckitchen%2C108&sr=1-14

 

Not sure how functional it is, but I have the one without the window and is great as an Air Fryer

 

ATK rated the Instant Vortex Plus 6 Quart as its best with the ClearCook model as its upgrade pick

 

Here's their take on Air Fryer Ovens:

 

Quote:

 

What To Avoid

• Air-Fryer Ovens: All the oven-style models we tested were difficult to use and produced lackluster results. They had bigger footprints but couldn't actually fit much more food inside. Having multiple levels of racks didn't work well in any of the air fryers we tested. The upper rack blocked heat from reaching the lower rack, resulting in unevenly cooked food. Despite our efforts to manage this uneven heating by switching and rotating the racks, the food never finished cooking at the same time. And because the cooking racks and baskets didn't have handles, we had to use oven mitts. Crumbs and drips fell through the perforations in the racks and onto the floor of the ovens or, more frustratingly, onto our kitchen floor. They were also a pain to clean; crumbs stuck to their bases and hinges and were impossible to remove.

 

p

 

Thank you.  I'm pretty sure that if I get one it will be the Instant Clear/Odor etc.  I've spent a lot of time looking at the different ones.  Does it ours come with a booklet of some sort?

[palo]

1 hour ago, ElsieD said:

Does it ours come with a booklet of some sort?

Just a user manual which you can download  to see what you think:

 

https://p.widencdn.net/3zyqam/140-3088-01-0303_IB_VortexPlus_6QTseethruSS_US_GSG_FINAL_LowRes.pdf

 

Lots of recipes on their site:

 

https://recipes.instantpot.com/

[ElsieD]

Tonight I cooked Johnsonville brats.  10 minutes and they were done and I think they were done before the ten minutes were up.  I am officially sold on this thing.

[Anna N]

39 minutes ago, palo said:

Lots of recipes on their site:

Thanks for this. If it did nothing else it amused me. People who eat roasted grapes on ricotta toast I would not consider to be the demographic likely to own an air fryer.
I looked at what purported to be a recipe book for this air fryer (or perhaps a much, much bigger model) that called for the ingredients to be placed in a 9 x 13 pan!  The book is on special on the Amazon site for a mere $4. I downloaded a sample but I won’t part with even $4 for this. Sheesh. 
None of this should detract from the appeal of the air fryer itself but recipes such as these  set one up for disappointment.  
A little realism would be welcome. 

[Anna N]

14 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

Tonight I cooked Johnsonville brats.  10 minutes and they were done and I think they were done before the ten minutes were up.  I am officially sold on this thing.

Brats makes sense; ricotta cheese toasts with roasted grapes not so much!

Edited June 8, 2022 by Anna N
Transcription error. (log)

[Anna N]

15 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

Tonight I cooked Johnsonville brats.  10 minutes and they were done and I think they were done before the ten minutes were up.  I am officially sold on this thing.

I tried hard to find a YouTube review on this particular model (the one with the window) but was unable to find one. 

[ElsieD]

 This is pretty much the same as the one I'm looking at.  The one I'm looking at also has something called Odor Erase.  I didn't think this video was particularly informative, but then I don't really know what I was expecting.  I haven't found any other videos.

Edited June 9, 2022 by ElsieD (log)

[palo]

@Anna N - I'm not sold on the window feature - from my experience you have to open the tray to re-arrange/shake anyway you can gauge doneness at that time - regarding recipes, when I got my first air fryer I went crazy for recipe books As you said "ricotta cheese toasts with roasted grapes" might be something I'd consider in a restaurant, but not at home. Nowadays I decide what I'm going to cook (protein/veg etc) and check the web for time and temp. As far as seasonings and such I know what I like.

 

Brats are good as are frozen burgers!

 

p

[Anna N]

33 minutes ago, palo said:

I'm not sold on the window feature - from my experience you have to open the tray to re-arrange/shake anyway you can gauge doneness at that time

That was my thought also. 

[Anna N]

41 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

This is pretty much the same as the one I'm looking at.

Thanks. Only thing that strikes me as upgrade to mine is the plate rather than the basket. Looks so much easier to clean and so much less space in the sink!

Edited June 9, 2022 by Anna N
Transcription error. (log)

[palo]

Another video on the Instant Vortex (without window)

 

 

It's by ATK - shows a few cooking ideas and their results

 

p

[palo]

Another ATK video that reviews Air Fryers - the winner is the Instant Vortex

 

 

p

[Chimayo Joe]

3 hours ago, palo said:

@Anna N - I'm not sold on the window feature - from my experience you have to open the tray to re-arrange/shake anyway you can gauge doneness at that time

That's my thinking, too.  Possibly useful but I'm not sure how useful. Chefman has a few windowed models, too.  The dehydrate function of the Instant Vortex interests me more than a window does.

3 hours ago, ElsieD said:

This is pretty much the same as the one I'm looking at.  The one I'm looking at also has something called Odor Erase.  I didn't think this video was particularly informative, but then I don't really know what I was expecting.  I haven't found any other videos.

Here's a video of the model you're considering.  It's compared to a couple of other windowed fryers.  I don't really like that youtuber's rating system because much of it seems irrelevant or trivial, but at least you can that fryer in action.

 

Edited June 9, 2022 by Chimayo Joe (log)

[ElsieD]

13 hours ago, palo said:

@Anna N - I'm not sold on the window feature - from my experience you have to open the tray to re-arrange/shake anyway you can gauge doneness at that time - regarding recipes, when I got my first air fryer I went crazy for recipe books As you said "ricotta cheese toasts with roasted grapes" might be something I'd consider in a restaurant, but not at home. Nowadays I decide what I'm going to cook (protein/veg etc) and check the web for time and temp. As far as seasonings and such I know what I like.

 

Brats are good as are frozen burgers!

 

p

 

If you find recipes on the web do you have to adjust cooking times based on the wattage of the machine?  Cosori has a nice little recipe book but my sister says she never uses it.  She too looks cooking time and Temps up on the internet.

[Anna N]

11 hours ago, Chimayo Joe said:

The dehydrate function of the Instant Vortex interests me more than a window does.

But have you seen it demonstrated in any video or even mentioned? Not sure that such a small surface would prove very useful if you were seriously into dehydrating food. If you were happy with a little bit of jerky I suppose it would work. 

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, ElsieD said:

 

If you find recipes on the web do you have to adjust cooking times based on the wattage of the machine?  Cosori has a nice little recipe book but my sister says she never uses it.  She too looks cooking time and Temps up on the internet.

I don’t really think that most of the drawer-type ones different very much in terms of their wattage. I would expect most things to cook at the same time and temperature in each of them. That said I am not impressed with most recipes I come across to be anything more than guidelines. Just like any other cooking, you learn from experience and it doesn’t take long for you to determine the best time and temperature. It would be helpful if somebody would produce a recipe booklet that addresses the things most people are likely to cook in an air fryer. Things like frozen french fries, chicken wings, frozen burgers, sausages, etc. That would prove to be a useful reference.  Gourmet dishes are not its strong point. 
At the moment I think the best reference is right here!  

[ElsieD]

27 minutes ago, Anna N said:

But have you seen it demonstrated in any video or even mentioned? Not sure that such a small surface would prove very useful if you were seriously into dehydrating food. If you were happy with a little bit of jerky I suppose it would work. 

I'll have another look.  I haven't ordered one yet.

[ElsieD]

17 minutes ago, Anna N said:

I don’t really think that most of the drawer-type ones different very much in terms of their wattage. I would expect most things to cook at the same time and temperature in each of them. That said I am not impressed with most recipes I come across to be anything more than guidelines. Just like any other cooking, you learn from experience and it doesn’t take long for you to determine the best time and temperature. It would be helpful if somebody would produce a recipe booklet that addresses the things most people are likely to cook in an air fryer. Things like frozen french fries, chicken wings, frozen burgers, sausages, etc. That would prove to be a useful reference.  Gourmet dishes are not its strong point. 
At the moment I think the best reference is right here!  

 

Maybe what we should do is, every time we cook something in an air fryer, post to this thread the time and temperature used.  I'd be happy to collect the data and produce a chart, which I would update as time passes.

[Chimayo Joe]

4 hours ago, Anna N said:

But have you seen it demonstrated in any video or even mentioned? Not sure that such a small surface would prove very useful if you were seriously into dehydrating food. If you were happy with a little bit of jerky I suppose it would work. 

I haven't seen video of dehydrating food in that particular fryer, but I've seen it done in fryers that don't go that low in temperature with limited success.  Haven't ever tried it with mine.

 

i'm not seriously into dehydrating food and doubt that I ever would be, but someting like this would probably give me enough capacity.

Edited June 9, 2022 by Chimayo Joe (log)